Reds at Forrester (Mar17)

Reds Get it Done in the Sun

Forrester 12 – 16 Linlithgow

Saturday 25 March 2017

On Saturday, the Reds travelled through to Forrester in west Edinburgh, on a gorgeous sunny day, to play their third last BT East 1 league match of the season, against the team sitting one place below them in the league.

The Reds started the match strongly playing territory well for the first 30 minutes had 3 forays deep into the Forrester’s half, all of which resulted in points for the visitors – two penalties and a converted try all credited to Jack Frame. These scores took the Reds full-back to over 200 points for the season – a highly creditable performance.

A further Jack Frame break resulted in him being penalised for holding on and, given some provocation on the ground to which he reacted, he was yellow carded by the referee, meaning that the Reds had to finish the first half with only 14 men. However, they created a great opportunity to go 16 points up, with a kickable penalty in front of the posts. A rush of blood to the head resulted in a quick tap being taken and the opportunity to add the three points was squandered as Forrester managed to turn the ball over. A few minutes later, Forrester used the man advantage well to score in the corner from a well constructed blind-side move. The conversion was missed , leaving the half-time score at 13-3 for the Reds.

Forrester fought back hard in the second half, ploughing men into the break down and meticulously coming away with the ball as the Reds pack defended doggedly, with Stuart Bell and Craig Scott to the fore in making trademark tackles. John Chapman, playing at outside centre as an experiment, made some clever breaks, but far too often players got themselves isolated and were stripped of the ball, causing promising moves to break down.

Jack Frame had 2 long range penalty attempts, which would have put the game to bed, fall just short before a third sailed over from just inside the 10 metre line.

Forrester earned themselves a losing bonus point with a late rumbling try followed by a touchline conversion to leave the final score at 16-12 to the Reds.

Not the game the summer conditions merited, but it was nevertheless an important win for the Reds, moving them up the table and giving them an opportunity of finishing higher if they can win their final two league matches. For Forrester, results elsewhere secured their place in BT East 1 next season, despite the defeat.